


ad astra

by actualflower



Series: fireteam: cormorant [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Nightmares, Sad Boys Miss Their Warlock, anyway welcome to fireteam: cormorant they're my Sad Boys who want only good things for the world, in the Destiny 2 timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 14:16:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12322650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actualflower/pseuds/actualflower
Summary: Elias and Javs and Harry were a fireteam once.Elias dreams and mourns. Javs stands watch.





	ad astra

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd. enjoy <3

“ _ NO! _ ”

Javs is pulled from his sleep by a scream. His hand goes to his pistol instantly, the little hand cannon that always stays near him no matter what. He’s already got it pointed at the door when he realizes that it wasn’t an intruder.

Elias is breathing hard next to him, still scrabbling in the sheets for something to grab onto, and Javs sets the gun down on the ground next to him.

“Elias?”

Javs lays a gentle hand on Elias’s own - he flinches away, but latches on not a moment later, his grip tight enough to be bruising. Elias looks at him with tears in his eyes, a wobble to his lips and a hopeless, lost look. Javs pulls him in gently, telegraphing every move, trying to be as soft as he can be.

He casts a look around the room - there are several other lightless Guardians here at the farm, but most of them are either still sleeping or making a valiant effort at pretending to have not been woken.

Elias holds his composure for a second longer before he’s sobbing into Javs’s shoulder.

Javs doesn’t have to ask to know what the dream was about.

* * *

_ “Move, Javs! Elias!” _

_ “We’re not leaving you!” _

_ There are too many, he thinks, counting them as fast as his eyes will allow - he’s already lining up shots with Hunter precision, standard spreads, but it’s not enough, he’s running out of bullets, and there are too many - _

_ “Harry.” The tone of his own voice shocks him. He pulls his helmet off, lets the glitter in his dark eyes show. _

_ Harry seems to understand. He lets the front panels of his helmet slide away, spends the few precious seconds they have pressing a kiss to Elias’s lips. “Thank you.” _

_ “I love you,” Elias says instead. He shouldn’t be thanking him for this. He turns back to Javs, the Titan clutching his shotgun and standing far too still. “Javs, come on. We have to leave.” _

_ “Elias, we can’t leave him. Harry, we can’t -” _

_ “Go, love.” Harry grins. “’Sides. I’m the best shot outta all of us. I’ll see you later, alright?” _

_ Javs shakes his head, but he stomps up to Harry, rips his helmet off, and kisses him like it’s the last time he’ll ever see him. _

_ “Please don’t go,” Javs whispers, and Harry laughs. Elias feels guilt rise like bile in his throat. He thinks maybe this is what the Exos mean when they say their processor skips. _

_ “I’ll be back by dinner.” He nods, but there are tears tracking down his cheeks. Harry strokes Elias’s jaw with his free hand, traces the edge of the scarring he got so long ago. “I love you both. Save a seat for me.” _

_ “Always.” Elias is pressing the seam of his mouth against Harry’s gloved palm, taking every last kiss he can steal. _

_ He lets the visor slide shut, and then they’re at the door again. Javs and Elias slide their helmets on. Even without the Light, it almost seems like Elias can see sunlight wings at his back. _

_ Harry nods at them both. “Go.” _

_ Elias and Javs back away as slow as they can, taking potshots from behind their cover, but it’s not enough - the Cabal don’t stop, and the last thing they hear from Harry is a whispered “I love you” over the comms before he lights up in gold. _

_ They hear his wild laugh without the comms as they run and Harry covers their escape, cackling and free. _

_ Later, when they’re three minutes of hard sprinting away, they both hear an explosion that rocks the building they had tried so hard to defend. When they turn, the explosion buffets them with a wave of pressure and heat and light, and then all that’s left is rubble. _

_ Javs yells and runs toward it for a step, two, then falls to his knees. Elias is silent. He wishes he could cry, but he can't. All he feels is numb. _

_ “We have to go, Javs.” _

_ Javs shakes his head. “We can’t leave him, Eli.” _

_ “We have to go.” _

_ Javs stays motionless for another beat, then stands. He turns around and brushes past Elias, wordless and grim. _

_ Elias follows him. There is nothing else he can do. _

* * *

A few minutes later, Elias’s breathing has calmed to a steady in-and-out, matched to Javs’s own. His eyes catch on the tattoo on his bare shoulder. There’s an otter, an owl, and a tiger, all stylized beautifully by the artist they’d found in the City - an Exo, tall and purple-finished with piercing green optics and a friendly laugh. Underneath the three, there’s a phrase Harry had found while trawling through the Archives for something he can’t even remember now:  _ per aspera, ad astra. _

_ “What’s that mean, Harry?” _

_ “’From hardship, to the stars.’ Ancient Latin. A language dead before the Golden Age.” _

_ Harry went silent, thoughtful in a way Elias had known meant he was truly invested in something, and nodded. “I like that.” _

Elias blinks past the memory to realize Javs is looking down at him. “Sorry. I was - absent.”

“’S alright.” Javs adjusts his grip on Elias, resting more fully against him and getting comfortable. He can feel his warmth pressed against his chest - it's duller now than it used to be, robbed of Light, but he can still feel it. Javs presses a soft kiss to the skin of his neck. 

“I miss him, Javs. I fuckin’ miss him.”

Javs closes his eyes. “I do, too.” He shifts his shoulder slightly. It bears the same tattoo. Harry had it, too.

Javs presses another soft kiss to the skin of his neck, wrapping his arms tighter around Elias’s waist where he’s half-pressed into his lap - the Titan is just tall enough to curl around Elias like he wants, pulling him close and curling around him, as if he can protect him with just his body.

Elias cuddles into his arms in turn. Javs’s gaze drifts to the gun on the table, traces the golden edging.

He doesn’t sleep again that night. Elias sleeps in his arms, and Javs guards his dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> i realize this is Literally the First thing i'm posting about fireteam: cormorant and it already has Major Character Death as a tag. i would apologize, but i've had this planned from the beginning. enjoy my soft boys being sad.
> 
> welcome to fireteam: cormorant. they'll have their third before long, don't you worry. and it's probably not who you're expecting. (let's be real, it's exactly who you're expecting from me.)
> 
> i have a [tumblr](http://banshee-44.tumblr.com), a [writing tumblr](http://kaytewrites.tumblr.com), and a [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/actualflower) if you'd like to follow me there!
> 
> much love and thanks <3


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